v. . ; 



Photograph by H. G. Dwight 



THE MAIN STREET OF KARYES : MT. ATH0S, GREECE 



"Karyes, otherwise the Walnuts, is the capital of the community. It lies just under the 

 crest of the peninsula. An ignorant newcomer runs fresh risk of incurring displeasure even 

 when he has left his wife behind; for in this other-worldly capital may no man ride, smoke, 

 sing, or otherwise comport himself in too self-satisfied a manner" (see text, page 250). 



But we made it our first duty in Karyes 

 to deliver our credentials, very sound- 

 ingly worded and wound about with a 

 long strip of paper stuck to the flap of 

 the envelope, to the Most Blessed As- 

 sembly of the Sacred Mount, whose ad- 

 dress it bore. 



OLDER THAN WESTMINSTER 



The Most Blessed Assembly of the 

 Sacred Mount — or, more briefly, the 

 Kin otis — is a very interesting body. Mt. 

 Athos has always enjoyed special privi- 

 leges, whether under Byzantine emperors, 

 Turkish sultans, or its present suzerain 

 the King of Greece ; and the monasteries 

 have always ruled their own peninsula. 

 Of these there are now twenty, and they 

 administer their common affairs through 

 a parliament even more venerable, I be- 

 lieve, than Westminster. Each monastery 

 annually elects a representative to this 



parliament, who occupies at Karyes a 

 house belonging to his abbey. 



These houses preserve the memory of 

 the long Turkish regime, in that they are 

 known by the Turkish name of kondk — 

 mansion. Always roomy and substan- 

 tial, and sometimes handsome, they and 

 the gardens in which they stand add not 

 a little to the appearance of the diminu- 

 tive capital. In addition to the Kinotis, 

 which is a deliberative, legislative, and 

 judiciary assembly, there is a smaller 

 executive council of five, called the Epis- 

 tasia. The members of this smaller coun- 

 cil may or may not be members of the 

 Kinotis, being elected by groups of four 

 monasteries for a term of five years. 



The parliament house of Karyes is not 

 a very imposing structure, but it makes a 

 picturesque group in the center of the 

 town, with the cathedral of the commu- 



254 



